A Study Tool
Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you can:Describe the power of nonverbal communication:
c Nonverbal communication is the process of
signaling meaning through behavior other than
words. It is often spontaneous and unintentional,
and its meaning may be ambiguous (p. 94).
c When channel discrepancy occurs, words and
actions don’t match, and nonverbal behaviors are
more likely to be believed than verbal ones (p. 96).Outline the functions of nonverbal communication:
c Nonverbal communication reinforces verbal com-
munication in three ways: repeating (mirroring
the verbal message), complementing (reinforcing
the verbal message), and accenting (emphasizing a
part of the verbal message) (p. 97).
c Nonverbal cues can be used for substituting or
replacing words (p. 97).
c Nonverbal communication also functions as
contradicting behavior, conveying the opposite of
your verbal message (pp. 97–98).
c Nonverbal cues also serve an interaction manage-
ment function (p. 98) by which they are used to
regulate verbal interaction (p. 98).
c A feeling of closeness, or immediacy, can be
created with nonverbal behaviors (p. 99).
c Individuals with good nonverbal communication skills
may practice deception, with good or bad intentions
(pp. 99, 101), when they attempt to use nonverbal
behaviors to convince others of something that is false.
Describe the set of communication symbols that are
nonverbal codes:
c Kinesics, the way gestures and body movements send
various messages, includes emblems (movements
with direct verbal translations in a specific group or
culture), illustrators (visually reinforcing behaviors),
regulators (interaction management cues), adaptors
(unconscious release of bodily tension), and affect
displays (indications of emotion) (pp. 101–103).
c Seven primary facial expressions are inborn and
are recognizable across all cultures: sadness, anger,
disgust, fear, interest, surprise, and happiness
(pp. 103–104). Masking is a facial management tech-
nique whereby we replace an expression of true feeling
with one appropriate for a given interaction (p. 104).
c Oculesics is the study of the use of the eyes in
communication settings (p. 104).c How we pause, the speed and volume of our
speech, and the inflections we use are vocalized
nonverbal messages called paralanguage (p. 105),
including pitch (vocal variation that gives promi-
nence to certain words or syllables), tone (vocal
modulation that expresses feelings of moods),
volume (how loud or soft words are spoken),
and a variety of other factors.
c Vocalizations are paralinguistic cues that give in-
formation about the speaker’s emotional or physical
state, such as laughing, crying, or sighing (p. 107).
Back-channel cues are vocalizations that signal
vocally but nonverbally that you do or don’t want
to talk (p. 107).
c Physical appearance and artifacts, accessories used
for decoration and identification, offer clues to
who we are (p. 107).
c Proxemics, the way we use and communicate with
space, depends on the cultural environment and is
defined by four specific spatial zones: intimate,
personal, social, and public (pp. 107–108).
c Territoriality is the claiming of an area, with or
without legal basis, by regular occupation of the
area (pp. 110–111).
c The use of touch to send messages, or haptics,
depends on the relationship with the communica-
tion partner (pp. 111–113).
c Chronemics is the perception of and use of time
in nonverbal communication (p. 113).Illustrate the influences culture, technology, and
situation have on our nonverbal behavior:
c Contact cultures are more likely to communicate
through touch, whereas noncontact cultures may
tend to avoid touch (pp. 114–115).
c Gender influences communication with behaviors
traditionally associated with femininity, such as
smiling, often perceived as weak (p. 115).
c In mediated communication, capitalization,
boldfaced terms, and emoticons are used as
nonverbal cues (p. 116).
c Competent nonverbal communication relates to
the situation; the public–private dimension is
the physical space that affects our nonverbal com-
munication, and the informal–formal dimension
is more psychological (p. 117).REAL REFERENCE
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